The impending hike in Singapore’s goods and services tax (GST) is necessary to “build a better Singapore for tomorrow”, says Minister of Finance Lawrence Wong in a Facebook post on Feb 9.
Wong’s post comes at a time when Singapore is at a “critical turning point” amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
“To do so, we will need to invest more in our people and our social infrastructure. The GST increase will help generate the revenues we need for this purpose,” he adds in a video clip that accompanied the post.
The additional revenue from the GST will go towards supporting Singapore’s growing healthcare needs and will help the nature to take better care of its seniors.
“I know many of you are concerned about the cost of living and this is why we will have a comprehensive set of measures in place to cushion the impact of GST on lower income and middle income households, as well as retirees,” he says.
For instance, a couple earning $5,000 a month with two children will receive around $6,500 in benefits under the Assurance Package, says Wong.
This works out to around 10 times the extra GST they have to pay per year, he adds.
“Besides these transitional offset measures, we will also permanently enhance the GST voucher scheme to better support our lower income families.”
More details will be shared in the upcoming Budget, which will be delivered in Parliament at 3.30pm on Feb 18.
